Funds can be divided into broad and narrow senses. In a broad sense, funds are a collective term for institutional investors, including trust investment funds, unit trust funds, provident funds, insurance funds, retirement funds, and funds of various foundations.

Funds in the existing securities market, including closed-end funds and open-end funds, have the characteristics of income-generating functions and value-added potential.

From an accounting perspective, funds are a narrow concept, meaning funds with specific purposes and uses.

Funds are formed because investors from governments and public institutions do not require return on investment or recovery of investment, but require the funds to be used for specified purposes in accordance with legal provisions or the investor's wishes.

The funds we are talking about now usually refer to securities investment funds.

Securities investment funds are an indirect form of securities investment.

Fund management companies pool investors' funds through the issuance of fund units, which are custodian by the fund custodian (i.e. a qualified bank). The fund manager manages and uses the funds to invest in stocks, bonds and other financial instruments, and then assumes the responsibility

Investment risks and profit sharing.

Securities investment funds can be divided into different categories according to different standards: according to whether fund units can be added or redeemed, they can be divided into open-end funds and closed-end funds.

Open-end funds are not listed for trading, and are generally purchased and redeemed through banks, and the fund size is not fixed; closed-end funds have a fixed duration, during which the fund size is fixed, and are generally listed and traded on securities exchanges, and investors buy and sell funds through the secondary market.

unit.

An open-end fund is a fund with a variable issuance amount, the total number of fund shares (units) can be increased or decreased at any time, and investors can subscribe or redeem based on the fund's quotation at a business location designated by the fund manager.

Compared with closed-end funds, open-end funds have the characteristics of no limit on the number of issuances, the buying and selling price is based on the net asset value, buying and selling over the counter, and relatively small risks. They are particularly suitable for small and medium-sized investors to invest.

The history of world fund development is the history of the transition from closed-end funds to open-end funds.

Take the United States, which has the most mature fund market, as an example.

In September 1990, there were 3,000 open-end funds in the United States with total assets of US$1 trillion; while there were only 250 closed-end funds with total assets of US$60 billion.

By 1996, the assets of open-end funds in the United States were US$3.5392 billion, and the assets of closed-end funds were only US$128.5 billion. The ratio between the two reached 27.54:1; in 1940, the ratio between the two was only 0.73

:1.

In Japan, before 1990, closed-end funds accounted for the vast majority, and open-end funds were in a subordinate position. However, the situation changed fundamentally after the 1990s, and the assets of open-end funds reached approximately twice those of closed-end funds.

In countries and regions where Asian development investment funds were early, such as Hong Kong, Thailand, Taiwan, Singapore, and the Philippines, they were mainly closed-end funds at the beginning of their development, and gradually transitioned to the current stage where the two types of fund forms coexist.

From a global perspective, the net asset balance of the world's open-ended investment funds was US$2,355.4 billion in 1990, and by 1995 it had jumped to US$5,340.7 billion.

Open-end funds have gradually become the mainstream of world investment funds.

Most investment funds in various countries around the world were closed-ended when they started.

This is because in the early stages of the development of investment funds, the handling fees for buying and selling closed-end funds were much lower than the handling fees for redeeming shares of open-end funds.

From the perspective of fund management, since there is no pressure to redeem beneficiary certificates, investors' funds can be fully utilized to implement their investment strategies to maximize profits.

Closed-end funds are trust funds, which refer to investment funds whose fund size is determined before issuance, remains fixed within a specified period after issuance, and is traded on the securities market.

Since closed-end funds are traded on stock exchanges through bidding, the transaction price is affected by market supply and demand and does not necessarily reflect the net asset value of the fund. That is, the transaction price of closed-end funds is at a premium relative to its net asset value.

, discount phenomenon.

The practice of foreign closed-end funds shows that their transaction prices often fluctuate with price fluctuations of first premium and then discount.

Judging from the operation of my country's closed-end funds, no matter how the fundamental situation changes, the trading price trend of my country's closed-end funds has never been able to break away from the price fluctuation pattern of first premium and then discount.

·According to different organizational forms, they can be divided into corporate funds and contract funds.

A fund is established by issuing fund shares to establish an investment fund company, which is usually called a corporate fund; it is established by a fund manager, a fund custodian and an investor through a fund contract, which is usually called a contract fund.

At present, my country's securities investment funds are all contract funds.

Corporate funds, also called mutual funds, refer to the fund itself as a joint-stock company, and the company raises funds by issuing stocks or beneficiary certificates.

When investors purchase shares of a company, they become shareholders of the company, receive dividends or bonuses based on the shares, and share in the income from investment.

Features 1. ***The same fund as a joint-stock company, but different from ordinary joint-stock companies in that its business is focused on securities investment trusts.

2.***The capital of the same fund is the capital of the company's legal person, that is, shares.